Another Near-Miss at the DNC on January 6?

Former Capitol Police chief stated that a member of House leadership was at the DNC on January 6. Who was it and how did police again fail to discover the alleged explosive in plain sight?

The unraveling of the January 6 pipe bomb story, which has the attention of some Republicans in Congress, now threatens to unravel the carefully crafted narrative about what happened on that infamous day.

The identity of the individual who planted alleged explosive devices outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries about January 6. The lack of interest in the story by the corporate media and the January 6 select committee—their final report barely mentions the incidents—heightens suspicions that the “pipe bomb” story represents yet another manufactured stunt rather than posing a legitimate danger to the lives of Capitol Hill employees, passersby, and, more importantly, a sitting U.S. senator and incoming vice president of the United States.

Security video and reporting published recently by Darren Beattie at Revolver News show law enforcement’s inexplicably lax reaction to the discovery of an explosive device right outside the DNC shortly after 1:00 p.m. on January 6, which coincided with the start of the joint session of Congress to review the Electoral College results at the Capitol just a few blocks away. An individual carrying a backpack appeared to notify Secret Service and D.C. Metropolitan police officers, who were serving as part of Kamala Harris’s security detail and sitting in parked SUVs in the building’s driveway, about the existence of the device. Beattie noted the odd reaction of these officers, especially considering their high-profile protectee was then inside the building and children were walking within feet of the alleged explosive.

Beattie on law enforcement’s excuse: “The Secret Service was notified of the presence of an explosive device within feet of themselves, the Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, whom they’re supposed to protect, and children and other passersby, and we are supposed to believe that the officials did nothing because they didn’t want to cause panic! ”

A few days after Beattie released his report, Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.) told Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Gaetz’s podcast that Capitol Police confirmed that the individual who discovered the device was a Capitol police officer. “I learned that backpack guy, January 6 backpack guy not to be confused with January 5 backpack person [alluding to a person the FBI’s claims planted the bombs on January 5] … was a non-uniformed, you know, plain clothes police officer in the employ of Capitol Hill police,” Massie told Gaetz on January 30.

Jan 6 Committee Knew

While Massie is the first to reveal the information on a public platform, that fact has been known to members and investigators on the January 6 select committee for more than two years. Sean Gallagher, head of the Capitol Police’s Protective Services Bureau, told the committee during his January 2022 interview that the person who found the device worked for him. “[We] started working on the suspicious package over at the RNC first where our teams identified the pipe bomb,” Gallagher testified, referring to the device discovered near the RNC headquarters around 12:45 p.m. “And then a little later, one of my counterintelligence teams that was doing enhanced sweeps around the DNC found a pipe bomb at the DNC as well.”

As chief of the Protective Services Bureau, Gallagher also oversaw the section of Capitol Police responsible for protecting members of Congress. The Dignitary Protection Division—who knew Congress’ police force has a bureaucratic hierarchy that rivals the U.S. military?—“is all of our plainclothes agents who provide personal protection for the congressional leadership or any threat-driven details,” Gallagher told the committee.

But Gallagher left off what seems like an important detail in his account of January 6: the presence of one of his protective details at the DNC at the same time the alleged explosive device was lying in wait.

According to his 2023 book, Courage Under Fire, former Capitol Police chief Steven Sund disclosed that two security details were at the DNC that day. “Officers are sent to canvass the area around the Democratic National Committee Building as a precaution,” Sund wrote in describing his department’s reaction to the discovery of the device near the RNC. “There are two protective details at the DNC—one for Vice President-elect Harris and the other for a member of House leadership—and we can’t take any chances.”

Sund did not divulge the name of the member of leadership. But according to Capitol sources, only a few House leaders receive security details: the Speaker of the House, the House majority leader, the House minority leader, and the whips of both parties.

So, who was at the DNC with Kamala Harris when the bomb was sitting right outside? Thanks to her filmmaker daughter who caught it all on camera, we know Nancy Pelosi was moving about the Capitol all day. That leaves then-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and then-Majority Whip James Clyburn as the only other possibilities.

Who Else Was in Danger?

Which raises more troubling questions about the so-called “pipe bomb” threat. How did yet another security detail miss this device? Congressional security teams obviously are not as load-heavy and road-tested as Secret Service details, but how did Capitol police—presumably highly experienced officers responsible for the safety of top congressional leaders—also not see what clearly appeared to be a pipe bomb propped up on a bed of twigs and dead leaves in plain view? Especially one that the FBI claimed had been planted the night before?

What makes the situation even stranger is that both Hoyer and Clyburn were present at the start of the joint session at 1:00 p.m. Were they at the DNC earlier to meet with Harris or was it someone else? (Harris, on the other hand, remained at the DNC after the joint session convened, leaving only after she was evacuated.)

And just as there is a strange lack of outrage over a supposed crazed MAGA bomber nearly assassinating the incoming vice president—indeed, the first person of color and woman to hold the office—this very important story has been completely overlooked by the media and January 6 investigators.

Why did Gallagher not disclose this to the committee when he testified?

Further, why is the unidentified House Democrat still silent on the matter? This silence mirrors that of Kamala Harris, who has never mentioned her brush with death after more than three years. And as I pointed out here, top Biden officials including Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray also never seem to mention what could have been a deadly tragedy on January 6.

Are they also unaware that a top Democratic congressman almost endured the same near-fate as Harris?

‘The January 6 pipe bombs are 100% a hoax and 100% a cover-up’

All of this seems to support what Beattie contends, which is “the January 6 pipe bombs were an operation and that the investigation into these bombs was in fact a cover-up.” It’s one thing to be led to believe that passersby, the Secret Service, and D.C. police all overlooked a rather conspicuous object on January 6. But it’s quite another leap to believe a separate security detail, in charge of one of the top Democrats in Congress, also missed it.

So, what gives? We still don’t know why Harris went to the DNC when an email indicated she was supposed to go to her residence at 11:25 a.m. after she left the Capitol following a Senate Intelligence committee briefing. And we don’t know which House member presumably met her there.

More to come.